Newsletter

Man pleads guilty to federal child porn charges

Williams

A 29-year-old man admitted Thursday in federal court to posing as a woman online to trick a 16-year-old girl to have sex with him, then send him photos and a video of her naked and engaging in a sexual act.

Tarvinn Williams pleaded guilty to a federal felony count of production of child pornography. He faces a punishment of 15 to 30 years in prison, according to plea documents.

Lubbock police Lubbock police arrested Williams on April 27 at his home in the 2300 block of 47th Street. He was booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center where he remains on a first-degree felony count of compelling a child younger than 18 years old to commit prostitution.

In May, a federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment against him, charging him of three counts of enticement of a minor and a count of production of child pornography.

Lubbock police investigators were contacted by a woman who said she was approached on Facebook by a person named Samantha Pena, who attempted to recruit her to have sex with Williams for money. The woman refused, and records show Pena messaged her multiple times between May 2016 and January 2017 asking her to reconsider.

Investigators concluded Williams and Pena were the same person after obtaining Facebook records that showed the messages from the two came from identical I.P. addresses, according to an arrest warrant.

The records also revealed Williams, posing as Pena, recruited another 16-year-old girl to have sex with him for in exchange for money, court documents state. Williams admits he and the girl, who turned 17, met at a motel three times and had sex. However, the girl was never paid.While again posing as Pena, Williams requested the girl send images of her engaging in a sex act, which she did in March 2016.

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled for Williams after a pre-sentencing investigation is completed.

County court records show Williams’ state-level compelling prostitution case is pending in the 140th District Court.